The Definition of REALmatic

I am tired. I am very tired these days, yet I am neither fatigued nor exhausted. In fact I am more excited than I ever have been – yet I am tired. Why am I tired? I am tired of this stagnant society – I am tired of delay and reaction; dammit it is time for some action. I am tired of waiting for change I can believe in because with every wasted second it becomes harder and harder to believe in the kind of change we need.

As a young boy I found that the role of an outcast and leader seemed to suit me. I was often ridiculed for being smart, acting white, being short, having the last name “Brady”, and many other things – but for all the setbacks I was myself. As I grew into my adolescence I desired to fit in, to achieve a level of popularity I never knew as a child. I sacrificed much of what I used to be, yet in my journey to conform I gained new knowledge of myself too. In the end my desire to conform was misguided – I fundamentally did not understand myself at the time. I learned that I was not yet smart enough to be around very smart people, yet I was too arrogantly smart to be around normal people. I’m not exactly “Black”, not at all “white”, and not bi-racial in the least bit. My journey to find a place to fit in was misguided because I learned I wasn’t made to fit in particular category. I think as all people grow up they experience this moment of truth – the day they decide to truly be an individual. I was truly born to be an outcast – yet I find much strength in this position.

As I have stopped growing in height, I have grown tired of our social conditions and our relative complacency in them. I am tired of laughing at jokes that are not funny; tired of talking to blind people; tired of a society that refuses to move as if we are on a race track going at no speeds besides a slow crawl. Then again this racetrack has been like hot tar to our people – sticking and burning us to one spot.

Therefore what is to be done in a world where not only have we become complacent in our positions but also our socio-economic conditions keep us from progressing? I think the time has come to keep it real.

As our society – specifically Black people – have progressed, the entertainment industry has fundamentally changed all aspects of our existence. Entertainment has superceded all activities including political and intellectual pursuits. Even religion is demanded to be entertaining, as the growing popularity of pop-Gospel and televangelists. Keeping it real has been outsourced to the world of entertainment: comedians, rappers, and public intellectuals (think Mr. Dyson doing a jig on that BET commercial) are those that speak on our behalf. But do they truly desire change?

Their jobs as entertainers are directly related to society’s problems so my answer would be no.

This is not to say they are particularly bad people, but they have no incentive to really try to push activist agendas that could polarize audiences and potentially put them out of a job. Its why comedians are so pessimistic, rappers are so materialistic, and public intellectuals tend to do very little large-scale activist projects they advocate for in books. This is why there is a vacuum for leadership right now. Nobody is truly keeping it real, they are only keeping things the same.

Keeping it real is not about being pessimistic or disillusioned; blind or naïve. Keeping it real often means to – as Chris Rock would say – “keep it real dumb”, but this is obviously not good enough. I think there is also a thing as being too smart to be real, thus there is a balance to be struck between these two extremes. Now is a unique time to be a Black intellectual because there truly is a demand for smart, political, and real brothas and sistahs out here ready to make change. But lets be real about keeping it real: we are truly sailing in uncharted waters here so experimentation and innovation is definitely necessary. I think a real intellectual are those that act in numerous spaces all at once to reach as many people as possible. A real intellectual does not see this time as a period for relaxation, happiness, and success – it must be seen as a war. I declare war for the souls of all folk like Dubois remixed: my weapons of choice are writing, the Internet, music, and activism. What are yours?

I know it is relatively unclear why I wasted my time to write this and why I wasted your time asking you to read this. I am using this note as a way of announcing a new beginning for me. I am starting a blog called The REALmatic Society to feed my thoughts to the world. I do not have the arrogance to believe that I will reach a large audience, but if 1 person can begin to understand my thoughts and my dedication to the project of humanization and global equality than I have won. I picked the title after my favorite Rap album: Illmatic by Nas. Check out this couplet by Mr. Nastradamus himself:

“Time is Illmatic
Keep static like wool fabric”

If time is illmatic, than society should be REALmatic. This “democratic” society (I stress the quotations) should be about the process of being real with our elected officials, corporate heads, our families, and our communities. Oftentimes we refuse to be real with each other and take shortcuts that end up shortchanging our race, our nation, and our struggle for freedom. Through this blog I hope to tell those who will listen to me how I plan to keep myself real, keep my community real, and keep this (global) society real. Hopefully I can pick up some allies along the way, because a revolution of one is the same as a revolution of none.

If you enjoy thinking about how to love the people and free the people – and truly wish to act upon those thoughts – than join me at realmaticsociety.blogspot.com.

Thank you for reading and remember to keep it real – its better to be a real individual than a forgettable tool. Deuces.